Facebook employee sent out an unusual email on November 10th, to an unknown outside party, hoping to arrange a conversation about how the platform moderated against anti-Semitism. Since Tuesday, activists have been circulating a petition calling on the platform to halt any potential changes to the way Facebook moderates the word “Zionist'', according to The Verge report, on Sunday.
“Under our current policies, we allow the term ‘Zionist’ in political discourse, but remove it when it’s used as a proxy for Jews or Israelis in a dehumanizing or violent way,” said a Facebook spokesperson. “Just as we do with all of our policies regularly, we are independently engaging with experts and stakeholders to ensure that this policy is in the right place, but this does not mean we will change our policy.“
According to the report, Both sides agree the term is often used as part of racist rhetoric that is accurately described as hate speech and should be removed. At the same time, the term is also used by Jewish critics of specific Israeli policies, particularly the country’s settlement policy. Classifying the term as hate speech would end up stifling those criticisms — at least on Facebook.
On other hand, “Restricting the word ‘Zionist’ as part of a hate speech policy won’t actually make Jewish people safer,” said Rabbi Alissa Wise, Deputy Director at Jewish Voice for Peace, who said the proposed Facebook change would only “prevent its users from holding the Israeli government accountable for harming Palestinian people.”
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